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Who should write your résumé?

Nilanjana Chakraborty

| May 2, 2016, 03:11 IST

Making a good first impression on a potential employer is very important, and what better way to go about it than impressing them with a well-written résumé? While most job portals offer generic tips and advice on polishing your résumé, and a basic Google search yields hundreds of sample cover letters and résumé templates, for most people, putting together a well-formatted, concise and presentable résumé is still a struggle. This is especially true for those looking for their first job. Not that it gets easier with time. As you gain experience and add feathers to your professional cap, another challenge arises—that of presenting all your achievements at one place effectively, without sounding too technical.This is where a professional can come to your rescue. Résumé and cover letter writing services are becoming increasingly popular among job applicants, who are willing to shell out a fee to get a well-curated document that they can confidently hand over to potential employers. Professional researchers, editors and writers are employed to give clients the best results. Here is why they make sense.

The 10-second rule

One of the gravest mistakes people make is to load their résumé with unnecessary details. Three-page résumés full of bullet points listing all awards and achievements are common. The truth is potential employers simply don’t have the time to go through all that. Chances are your résumé will get a 10-second glance-over at the primary stage, in which only the qualifications and skillsets relevant to the job you have applied for will be focused on. If that information is lost in a dense paragraph of adjectives and details, it can easily be overlooked. Other common mistakes include spelling and grammatical errors, listing the wrong contact information and lies.

A professional résumé writing service cuts through all the superfluous details and gets straight to the point. It can also clean up your résumé and tailor it to suit the profile or industry you are targeting, and analyse your skill to present them in the best possible way. Highlighting the right skills and experience can decide whether your résumé is overlooked or noticed by a potential employer.

Social media facelift

While a résumé mailed in directly or submitted to the recruiter’s website is important, another factor is emerging as a significant addition. “Of late, a well-written, professionally built LinkedIn profile is becoming increasingly important,” says Neena Mody, Founder of Step-it-Up Résumés.

Experts stress the importance of keeping your social media profile updated, since a lot of recruitments are now initiated online by seeking out professionals with relevant skills and experience. The key to being noticed is to present a professional profile that stands out and readily offers the necessary information to potential employers. Most specialised consultants and organisations also offer this service, along with making your online profile more easily searchable through the strategic use of keywords.

The pocket pinch

A résumé written from scratch can cost you anywhere between `1,000 and `2,500. Most companies price their services according to the client’s professional experience, with beginners getting the cheapest deals, while senior professionals have to shell out larger amounts. Cover letter writing charges are fairly even across the board, ranging from `500 to `1,500. Independent consultants can be more expensive, but come with the added advantage of individual attention and time.

Sensing a demand for these services, and having discovered that there was a dearth of experienced consultants, Reeti Roy started Aglet Ink, an independent résumé and white paper writing service two years ago. “It is all about attention to detail. I don’t take on more than two to three clients per month and work with them from end to end on their CVs, cover letters and even letters of introduction, in case they wish to cold call some of the companies that they want to work with,” says Roy, who charges `5,000 for her résumé writing and advisory services.

Is it for you?

Although leaving it in the hands of a professional can give you an impressive document, it can only go so far when seeking employment opportunities. Additional career or industryspecific advice might be a bonus, but keep in mind that you have to face your interviewer alone. Your résumé can get your noticed, but how you present yourself is going to be of optimum importance.

“We basically help two kinds of clients—those who are too busy to write their own résumés, and those who don’t know how to write their résumés. If you are neither, don’t spend your hard-earned money,” says Rajat Vashishta, Founder, Get Set Resumes.

Useful as they are, these services can only help you along the way if you are professionally competent and applying for jobs that you have a suitable skillset for. A marked discrepancy between the tone and finesse of your résumé and cover letter, and the impression you make at an interview might actually do more harm than good.Make sure that you use the insights and services provided by experts judiciously, and remember that getting the job is only the first step.

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